A Woman of Grace and Outstanding Ability

  • Capt. Praveen Davar

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, whose 32nd death anniversary falls today, was a woman of exceptional ability. Hailing from, inarguably, the country’s most distinguished political family, being the sister of Jawaharlal Nehru and daughter of Motilal Nehru, Vijaya Lakshmi’s career was full of many advantages but there was no escaping the disadvantages that accompany a background so visible. Had it not been so she may have become the President of India in 1977 when perhaps being Nehru’s sister, or Indira Gandhi’s aunt, became her disqualification.

Born Swarup Kumari Nehru on August 18, 1900, she was eleven years younger than Jawaharlal, the only son of Motilal Nehru. It was only when she married a Maharashtrian Brahmin settled in Rajkot, Ranjit Pandit, that she adopted the name Vijay Lakshmi that was given by her in-laws as per custom in most Hindu families those days. Vijaya Lakshmi, along with her sister, Krishna was sentenced to one-year rigorous impressments in 1932, the first of her three sentences during the freedom struggle. She was 32 then while Krishna, 7 years her younger, was only 25 when they were arrested and incarcerated in Lucknow to keep them away from their famous Bhai undergoing imprisonment in Naini Central Jail, Allahabad, their home town.

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was elected twice to the UP Legislative Assembly and became the first woman Cabinet Minister of pre-independent India. After her second term as an MLA and Cabinet Minister she was elected to the Constituent Assembly from the United Provinces.

In 1946, she was nominated by the interim government headed by India’s Viceroy to lead a delegation to the United Nations thus becoming the first woman to do so. When India became independent on August 15, 1947, she was chosen as the country’s first Ambassador to the Soviet Union (now Russia and other republics). In 1949, she was appointed as Ambassador to USA. It was during her tenure that Jawaharlal Nehru made his first official visit to USA as Prime Minister. The Howard University, in Washington DC, presented her with an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws the citation of which read: ‘You were born to wealth and station but ... when you lifted up your voice in behalf of the dependent peoples of Africa... you made yourself the dear Ambassador to the heart of millions of human beings who never saw your native land but who will hence forth love you and look towards you with hope.’ This was just one instance of the tremendous goodwill and affection the first woman Ambassador of the country enjoyed which raised the stature of India in the West. While she was in Washington, the Indian government appointed her to serve simultaneously as Ambassador to Mexico, making her the first woman to carry two diplomatic posts. Almost ten years later, in October 1960, the integral union for Human Rights of Mexico awarded her a special medal in recognition of her efforts towards the realization of the principles of the United Nations.

There was disappointment in both USA and Mexico when it was reported in the press in October 1951 that Mrs. Pandit would soon be leaving for India to contest for India’s first parliamentary election. Back in India, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was elected to the Lok Sabha from Allahabad unopposed. However, she resigned from her seat within a year as she was elected as the President of the United Nations General Assembly, the first woman to occupy the coveted post. It was during her one-year tenure that the President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, delivered his famous speech ‘Atoms for Peace’ on December 8, 1953. With Mrs. Pandit presiding, the world’s most powerful man declared: ‘the United States pledges before you, and therefore before the world, its determination to help solve the fearful atomic dilemma, to devote its entire heart and mind to finding the way by which the miraculous inventiveness of man shall not be dedicated to his death but consecrated to his life’.

The very next day The Eighth General assembly of which Mrs. Pandit had been the President was called to order for the final closing ceremony ‘there followed a most remarkable outpouring of appreciation for the work of the President. As a past President, Mr. Pearson of Canada spoke first, stating that he knew that one who presided over an assembly of sixty nations with close to a hundred items to consider accepted a heavy responsibility. ‘This,’ he said, ‘you have discharged with queenly grace and unquestionable impartiality.’ The Belgian delegate declared that one of his most cherished memories would be the charming simplicity with which she had presided and the team spirit that the President had inspired in all of them.

It came as a no surprise to anyone when it was announced on Gandhi Jayanti Day, Oct 2, 1954, that Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit would be India’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. In the early years of Independence this distinguished post was considered the most important in India’s diplomatic service. She would also be the first woman ambassador to the court of St. Jame’s. It was towards the end of her tenure that Queen Elizabeth visited India, the first Royal visit since 1911 when the Queen’s grandparents, King George V and Queen Mary, had travelled almost a month by ship to reach the greatest part of their empire. Mrs. Pandit arrived in Delhi almost a fortnight before the Queen’s visit and supervised all the arrangements with minutely going through the details such as the menus for the banquets in Delhi and other cities visited by the royal couple. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit’s diplomatic career ended in August 1961 when she left 9 Kensington Palace Garden the High Commissioner’s residence for the last time and returned to India.

In 1962, she was appointed as Governor of Maharashtra, but before she could complete even half her term, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru died. The Congress High Command chose Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit as the Congress candidate from Phulpur in the by-election from the seat from where Nehru had won three times in a row. Mrs. Pandit won by a margin of 58,020 votes (This writer’s late father, Congress veteran Dr. MC Davar was deputed by PM Lal Bahadur Shastri as her chief campaigner). However, her relations with Lal Bahadur Shastri and his successor Indira Gandhi, her niece, remained far from cordial. When the Emergency was declared, she retired from active politics and settled down in the foothills of the Himalayas in Dehradun. In 1977 when the Janata Party won, she was seriously considered as candidate for Presidentship of India. Even though she was reportedly the choice of both Prime Minister Morarji Desai and deputy PM Jagjivan Ram, being Nehru’s sister became an issue with non- Congress elements of the short-lived party. After Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was ultimately chosen, many amongst the intelligentsia felt ‘Vijaya Lakshmi would have been the better choice.’ The regret was rightly so.

(The writer is a columnist and Editor, the Secular Saviour)